How to unencrypt iTunes backup from iPhone [Full Guide]

Posted by Alexandra Malureanu,
13th March 2017

Updated on June 2017

If you need to retrieve certain files from your backup and have just downloaded our iPhone Backup Extractor software, you might notice that it asks for a password of your backup. Well, this means you chose the “Encrypt iPhone backup” checkbox in the iTunes device options when you last syncronised or backed-up your iDevice. If the files you require are on your iPhone still, you need to decrypt the backup in iTunes to access them. This can be achieved by following the instructions below.

Syncronise your iPhone, iPad or iPod with Encryption turned off

Select your iDevice in the iTunes.

Choose the Summary screen (tab) and scroll to the bottom of the screen.

Then un-select Encrypt iPhone backup (the same for iPad or iPod).

iTunes will then prompt you to “Enter the password to unlock your iPhone backup”, enter the password you set originally

Now synchronise your iDevice to create a non-encrypted backup.

You can simply reverse the process to encrypt your backup after extracting the files to protect your backup again.